Source · Select Committees · Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee
Recommendation 31
31
Accepted
Engage with Northern Ireland officials through existing structures, ensuring Section 75 compatibility.
Recommendation
In the future, the DLUHC must make sure that its engagement with officials in Northern Ireland is compatible with section 75 of the 1998 Northern Ireland Act, so 42 Funding for Levelling Up that in the absence of an Executive, officials in Northern Ireland are able to engage with the DLUHC. For this reason, the DLUHC must avoid needlessly reinventing the parameters for engaging with stakeholders in Northern Ireland and instead engage with them through existing structures to avoid these challenges in the future. (Paragraph 106) Local growth
Government Response Summary
The government outlines existing measures to ensure engagement with Northern Ireland officials is compatible with Section 75 of the 1998 Northern Ireland Act, including requiring UKSPF applicants to describe project impact and using MoUs for the Levelling Up Fund, while acknowledging the challenge of a non-functioning Executive.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
DLUHC recognises the importance of giving due regard to the equalities considerations that apply in Northern Ireland. In designing funds and in making selection decisions, DLUHC have considered our public sector equality duties including relevant section 75 factors specific to Northern Ireland. For UKSPF, where DLUHC is leading delivery, all applicant organisations are required to describe how their project will impact on people with protected characteristics as part of project design and implementation. This is a specific legal requirement for public sector applicants. All project deliverers will also be asked, as part of the conditions of the award of funding, to collect information on the nine categories set out in section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998. We will review this at plan level, which will help build a fuller evidence base as to the impact that UKSPF can have on all protected groups, especially those where evidence is currently more limited. Moreover, we anticipate that the majority of funding will be administered through a commissioning approach with arms-length bodies of the Northern Ireland Executive, and Northern Ireland councils. This will achieve greater alignment with existing structures, maximise efficiencies, as well as further embed section 75 considerations into UKSPF delivery. For the Levelling Up Fund, in both rounds of the Fund we have utilised a Memorandum of Understanding between DLUHC and the Northern Ireland Executive. These MoU’s accounted for the fact that, whilst DLUHC has not been designated under section 75, in relation to the Levelling Up Fund, DLUHC intended to comply with the principles set out in s.75, without prejudice to the fact that s.75 does not apply. This allowed Northern Ireland Executive officials to engage with the assessment process without risk of legal proceedings. Clearly there is a very significant challenge in seeking to deliver any further Levelling Up initiatives in Northern Ireland given the lack of a functioning Executive and Assembly. This clearly limits the scope for DLUHC to pursue our work in Northern Ireland – we continue to encourage the restoration of the institutions so that we can proceed with funding and other initiatives in cooperation with the Executive.